posted on 2021-08-24, 08:13authored byChi Xuan Trang, Qile Li, Yuefeng Yin, Jinwoong Hwang, Golrokh Akhgar, Iolanda Di Bernardo, Antonija Grubišić-Čabo, Anton Tadich, Michael S. Fuhrer, Sung-Kwan Mo, Nikhil V. Medhekar, Mark T. Edmonds
Intrinsic
magnetic topological insulators offer low disorder and
large magnetic band gaps for robust magnetic topological phases operating
at higher temperatures. By controlling the layer thickness, emergent
phenomena such as the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect and axion
insulator phases have been realized. These observations occur at temperatures
significantly lower than the Néel temperature of bulk MnBi2Te4, and measurement of the magnetic energy gap
at the Dirac point in ultrathin MnBi2Te4 has
yet to be achieved. Critical to achieving the promise of this system
is a direct measurement of the layer-dependent energy gap and verification
of a temperature-dependent topological phase transition from a large
band gap QAH insulator to a gapless TI paramagnetic phase. Here we
utilize temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy
to study epitaxial ultrathin MnBi2Te4. We directly
observe a layer-dependent crossover from a 2D ferromagnetic insulator
with a band gap greater than 780 meV in one septuple layer (1 SL)
to a QAH insulator with a large energy gap (>70 meV) at 8 K in
3 and
5 SL MnBi2Te4. The QAH gap is confirmed to be
magnetic in origin, as it becomes gapless with increasing temperature
above 8 K.